


Just This Once, Everybody Lives

by Wonderlandleighleigh



Series: Just This Once, Everybody Lives [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Avengers: Endgame AU, F/M, Gen, This series will probably include other fandoms eventually, but for now just these idiots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-02
Packaged: 2020-02-16 03:24:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18683152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wonderlandleighleigh/pseuds/Wonderlandleighleigh
Summary: An alternate conclusion to Avengers: Endgame.





	Just This Once, Everybody Lives

**Author's Note:**

> Look, I actually really loved Avengers: Endgame. But I never said I wasn't going to write fan fiction where things turned out differently. Who would promise that?

And then sometimes your friend throws his giant axe/hammer at you and slices off your whole arm to make sure you don’t die.

Tony can feel his body going into shock, until the nanites converge on the bloody stump, and while it still hurts so, so much, he no longer feels like the life is draining out of him. He looks down at his arm, his now dismembered arm, and takes a shuddering breath. 

“Holy crap,” he croaks out, looking around wildly to find Rhodey, Peter, Pepper and Steve dashing towards him at a fast clip. 

Steve gets there first, a big hand on his good shoulder. “Tony? Tony, can you hear me?” 

“I can...I can hear you,” he says, still staring at the limp arm, pale white and adorned with the Infinity Stones. “Holy crap.” 

“Tony?!” Pepper yells, right in his ear. “Oh my god.” 

“I am sorry, my friend,” Thor says as he walks up. “It was necessary. The stones were killing you.” 

“No, no, no, it’s totally fine,” Tony assures them all. “Cool. Cool cool cool.” 

“Mr. Stark?” Peter says hesitantly, lifting the dismembered arm with two fingers. “Do you...want this?” 

Rhodey takes it from the kid. “I got it, Pete. We’re good.” 

Peter gives a full-body shudder before kneeling down in front of Tony. “Wow that was scary. Are you gonna be okay?” 

Tony takes a deep breath, leans away from all of them and throws up the contents of his stomach.

He hears Steve huff and imagines that Rogers is shaking his head. “I think he’s gonna be just fine, Queens. Give him some room.” 

“Wow. It looked like that old Monty Python movie with the knight chopping off the other knight’s limbs and all the blood went-” 

Tony passes out before Peter can finish.

***** 

When he wakes up, his stump is bandaged up, and his daughter is staring at him from the side of the bed. 

Tony gives her a pained grin. “Hey, Kiddo.” 

“Hi, Daddy. You got hurt.” 

“Yeah,” Tony nods, using his remaining hand to reach out and brush some of Morgan’s hair from her face. “Yeah. Daddy got a little over-confident. Again.” 

“Welcome back to the land of the living.”

Steve’s voice is calm and gentle, mostly, Tony knows, for Morgan’s sake, but the blonde really does look relieved that he’s awake.

“Thanks, buddy,” Tony says, glancing up at him. “Morgan, can you go tell Mommy that I’m up?” 

Morgan runs out, and Tony watches Steve pat her head gently along the way, before turning back to him. 

“Helluva thing,” Steve says, stepping closer to the bed. 

Tony nods, taking the other man’s appearance in quietly. “You’re uh...you’re still dressed for combat.” 

“Yeah. Well...the stones gotta go back,” Steve tells him factually with a shrug. “Somebody’s gotta do it.” 

“And it’s gotta be you.” 

“Why, you wanna send Lang?” Steve asks, cracking a grin.

“Y’know, I remember when we met,” Tony says, looking up at the ceiling with a grin. “You had no sense of humor at all. All serious business. You wouldn’t even let me poke Bruce with a stick.” 

“Eh,” Steve shrugs. “You get punched around by robots...tangle with a couple gods...a crazy purple asshole with a fancy glove...I guess you learn to laugh a little.” 

“Uh-huh. You takin’ back-up?” 

“Nope.” 

“Rogers.” 

“I’d ask you, but you look like you might blow chunks again,” Steve comments. “I got this, Tony.” 

“You comin’ back?” 

The silence that hangs in the air is deafening. 

“You’re not coming back.” 

Steve blows out a breath and leans against the wall. “I’m...thinkin’ about my options. My life.” 

“Well, you got all of us,” Tony points out. “The Avengers. Now you’ve got some wild and crazy alien friends, to say nothing of the Wizards, the Wakandans, and whatever else.” 

Steve cracks another grin, this one sadder. “That’s very true.” 

“There’s always online dating,” Tony jokes weakly. 

“Doesn’t seem like it’d be my speed.” 

Tony struggles to sit up. “Listen to me. The temptation to go back and have that life with that woman is...it’s not easy to turn your back on. I understand. But I gotta be honest.” He shakes his head thoughtfully. “I think I’m gonna need your help. And Morgan is gonna need her uncle.” 

“She’s got plenty of uncles.” 

“Yeah, but none of ‘em are you,” Tony snaps. “None of ‘em knew Howard the way you did. None of ‘em...they’re not you, Rogers. And I get it. You’ve been having a slow nervous breakdown for what, ten years now?” 

Steve looks away, pursing his lips. 

“Come back,” Tony says firmly. “And I will help you. And you’ll help me. I think we’ve already proven that this weirdo family doesn’t work unless we’re both around. So be around.” 

They stare at each other for a long, quiet moment before Steve stands up straight and heads for the door. 

“See you when you get back, Cap.” 

***** 

“This phantom limb thing is weird,” Tony complains at the dinner table. “I keep moving to pick up my fork and then I remember that I don’t have anything to pick it up with.” 

“We could always get you a hook,” Rhodey shrugs.

“You know what I love about you, Rhodey?” Tony asks. “Your deep delusion that you are at all funny.” 

It’s been a day and a half since they’d won. Clint had headed back to the farm and taken Wanda with him. Sam had gone back to DC to meet up with Fury and Hill. T’Challa was back in Wakanda, and Peter was back in the city, accompanied by Bruce, and Thor had left with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Scott had left for California. 

All that’s left are Tony, Pepper, Morgan and Rhodey.

And Bucky Barnes.

Bucky Barnes is sitting outside near the quantum generator, waiting for Steve to come back. 

“Maybe you should go talk to him,” Pepper says. 

“Yeah?” Tony asks, not looking at her. “Hey. Hey guy who murdered my parents. Please unburden your soul on me and my stump.”

“Well, I’m gonna take him a plate of food,” Pepper tells him primly, standing up to fill a plate.

Tony blows out a breath and gets up too. “No. Fine. I got it.” He kisses Pepper’s temple and takes the plate, freezing in place when he realizes he cannot both hold and fill the plate at once. “Sunofa-” 

Rhodey can’t help cracking up, and Tony nearly throws the plate at his head.

***** 

“Pepper thought you might be hungry.” 

Bucky Barnes looks up and frowns deeply as Tony Stark settles next to him on the log that works as a make-shift bench, settled in front of the generator. He takes the plate, confused at the kindness but mutters a “thanks” anyways.

“He’s comin’ back,” Tony says after a while. “We talked and he’s comin’ back.” 

Bucky gives a rusty chuckle. “Yeah, I talked to him, too. He woulda by now if he was gonna.” 

“Then why are you still here?” 

“Because I’m an idiot,” Bucky tells him simply, poking at the food on the dish with the fork that had come with it. “Look, Stark. I know you hate me. And with very good reason. And any cockamaime apology is gonna be…” 

“Cockamaime?” Tony repeats. “Did you suddenly turn into a Jewish yenta?” 

“The point is, that you’ll never know how sorry I am,” Bucky pushes on. “Your dad was a friend. And it’s something I’ll never be able to make up for.”

“You’re right,” Tony nods in agreement. “You’ll never be able to make up for it. And we’ll never be friends...but notice how you’ve been sitting on my property for the better part of twenty-four hours and I haven’t tried to blast your head off. I think we’ll be okay.” 

Bucky nods and looks at the generator again. “Gettin’ dark.” 

Tony blows out a breath and tries to look at his watch, before rolling his eyes at himself. 

“You get used to it,” Bucky tells him. “The phantom thing. Not remembering it’s gone. You get used to it.” 

Tony blinks, stares at him and then rubs his face. “Shit. We match.” 

Bucky gives him a grin. “Welcome to the club. We’re mostly armless.” 

“Oh god, I hate you.” 

“Yeah, I know.” 

***** 

Tony falls asleep with his face pressed against Bucky’s metal arm, and only wakes up when there’s a loud, indescribable noise. 

He jumps to his feet, tripping over the log in the half-light of dawn and he nearly falls flat on his ass, but catches himself in time to see Cap stumble himself on the platform. 

With an unconscious, red-headed woman in his arms. 

Bucky’s up like a shot. “Steve?!” 

Steve manages to dump Natasha into Bucky’s arms before teetering his way off the platform. “Soul for a soul. Worked out a return policy,” he slurs out. “I fucking hate the Red Skull.” 

With that, he drops, passing out on the way to the grass and hitting it hard. 

Tony stares at him before turning to Bucky, who’s still got Nat in his arms. She’s coming too, looking groggy and confused, but alive. 

“PEPPER!” Tony yells. “RHODEY! I ONLY HAVE ONE ARM AND THERE ARE TWO PEOPLE PASSED OUT IN THE GRASS!” 

***** 

When Steve Rogers dreams, it’s often of Peggy Carter. Her warm voice, and her strong hands and her big, brown eyes.

And he wonders if that will ever change. If it will ever be someone else’s voice and hands and eyes that his subconscious latches onto. 

In any case, somebody’s calling his name, and it’s not Peggy. 

“Steve?” 

He blinks slowly and when his vision clears, it’s to find Natasha standing over him. Alive and well and looking…

Well. 

Angry.

“Oh,” he grunts out. “Hey.” 

She shakes her head but makes no other move. “You’re a jackass.” 

“Look, it stands to reason,” Steve tells her, sitting up slowly, rubbing at the back of his head. “Soul for a soul. If I put the Soul Stone back, then I get the soul back that was used to get the Soul Stone in the first place.” 

“You’re still a jackass.” 

Steve grins at her, looking a little emotional at seeing her awake and alive again. “You’re welcome.” 

Pepper leans into the room, smiling at them. “Clint, Bruce and Thor are on their way. Fury, too.”

“Am I in trouble again?” Steve asks. 

Pepper just grins and leaves them to it.

***** 

“You all look like death warmed over.” 

It’s not an untrue statement, but it makes the six original Avengers, Rhodey, Pepper and Bucky roll their eyes as Fury sips his coffee in the Starks’ kitchen. It hadn’t been easy to get everyone back here, especially Thor, but he’d made it, dropped off by the Guardians, who then left promptly, Quill flipping Tony the middle finger on his way out. 

“I’m pretty sure we’ve earned a vacation,” Bruce says, carefully settling in a chair so as not to break it under his green weight. 

“Fuck vacation,” Clint snaps. “Retirement.” 

“Like you would ever retire,” Natasha snorts. “Your family disappeared and you got a mohawk and went on a killing spree.” 

“It’s a weird move, by the way,” Tony comments. “The hair. The weird Batman-like vendetta except with way more killing.” 

“I wonder how I’d look with a mohawk,” Steve muses. 

“Not good,” Rhodey tells him. “Not good at all.” 

“I liked the beard, though,” Bruce tells him. “Very rugged. You should grow that out again.” 

“It was a little hot,” Tony agrees. “Goes nice with the ass.” 

“The beard was quite a statement,” Thor chimes in.

“Children,” Fury snaps. “Are we finished?” 

“Probably not,” Natasha says honestly. 

He sighs heavily, watching the eight of them carefully. “The world is a mess. Undoing the snap was great. But there’s a lot of cleanup. And I could use your help.” 

The group goes silent for the first time that day, all looking at each other before looking at Fury again. 

“It wouldn’t be a daily thing,” Fury tells them. “It probably wouldn’t even be a weekly thing. But...stay in touch. Be on call. If something big happens...Avengers-level big...I’m gonna have to give you a call.” 

“And until then?” Natasha asks. 

“Well,” Fury sighs. “You, Agent Romanoff are needed in DC. And lord knows we could use Barton, Cap, and Rhodey, too. Lotta in-fighting on the federal level.” 

“Except that half of the Avengers are still fugitives,” Clint points out. “Remember that time when we were on the run from the government?” 

“I missed that particular adventure, was it enjoyable?” Thor asks.

“No,” Natasha, Bucky and Rhodey respond in unison. 

“Something tells me they might just give a pass to the guys who saved the universe,” Tony points out.

“Cap’s team was given a full exoneration yesterday,” Fury tells them. “And I understand if you all want out, but the world still needs you.”

The group goes silent again, looking at each other again. 

“We have an A-Team,” Fury tells them. “Falcon, Ant-Man, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, and Captain Marvel.” He glances at Rhodey. “There’s a spot there for you, too, if you want.” 

Rhodey looks thoughtful, giving a nod, but staying quiet. 

Fury turns to Bucky. “I’d offer you a spot, but…” 

“Eh,” Bucky shrugs. “I’m too old for this shit. And I was perfectly happy in Wakanda. I might even go back.” 

Steve frowns. 

“With frequent visits to Brooklyn,” Bucky amends, patting his best friend’s shoulder. 

Fury sighs heavily. “So, here’s my offer: I leave you people alone, until the day comes that it looks like things are going to shit again. At which point, you answer the call and give us a hand.” 

“It’s good that you only need one,” Tony tells him. “Cause…” he points to the still-bandaged stump. “I’ve only got the one, so…” 

The group groans, and Fury rolls his eyes. 

“I don’t know why I bother.”


End file.
